Tunisian presidential candidate Zammel released from detention, state news agency says

Tunisian presidential candidate Ayachi Zammel was released from police custody on Friday shortly after he was set free from a previous detention then re-arrested over alleged election-related irregularities, the state news agency TAP reported.

Zammel is one of three candidates approved by Tunisia's electoral commission to run in a presidential election on Oct. 6 which opposition critics say is rigged in favour of President Kais Saied.

He was arrested on Monday on suspicion of falsifying voter forms. A judge ordered him set free on Thursday. But two lawyers for Zammel, Abdessatar Massoudi and Dalila Ben Mbarek, said he was arrested again immediately after his release from Borj El Amri prison.

On Friday, he was released again on a judge's orders, TAP said. His case was postponed until Sept. 19.

Zammel campaign member Mahdi Abdel Jawad described his arrest as a kidnapping.

He is accused of falsifying voter forms for next month's election. Each candidate must submit forms from 10,000 supporters to qualify to stand. He denies the allegation.

Zammel has said he faces restrictions and intimidation because he is a serious competitor to Saied. He has pledged to rebuild democracy, guarantee freedoms and fix Tunisia's collapsing economy.

Saied was democratically elected in 2019, but then tightened his grip on power and began ruling by decree in 2021 in a move the opposition has described as a coup.

Major political factions say Saied's years in power have eroded the democratic gains of Tunisia's 2011 revolution.

Opposition parties and human rights groups have accused the authorities of using arbitrary restrictions to help ensure Saied's re-election.

Along with Zammel and Saied, politician Zouhair Maghzaoui is approved to run in the election.